Posts Tagged ‘Bill Bradley’

March 27, 2013 · 11:57 PM ET

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Can’t you picture the Hornets, Spurs, Knicks, Bobcats and Sixers salivating already?

It’s time to jump on the Heat while they’re down, exhausted, spent after a 27-game winning streak that lasted nearly two full months.

Despite what the Miami players have been saying, that kind of long period of excellence takes a toll, mentally and physically.

Who says?

History.

After the 1969-70 Knicks of Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley had what was then an NBA record 18-game win streak snapped by Detroit, they bounced back to take three straight, but then lost four out of five to add up to a 4-5 stretch over a period of 17 days.

Nov. 29 vs. Pistons, lost 110-98.

Dec. 2 vs. Sonics, won 129-109.

Dec. 5 at Baltimore, won 116-107.

Dec. 6,vs. Bucks, won 124-99.

Dec. 9 at Cincinnati, lost 103-101.

Dec. 10 at Milwaukee, lost 96-95.

Dec. 11 at Seattle, lost 112-105.

Dec. 13 vs. Sixers, lost 100-93.

Dec. 16 at Atlanta, lost 125-124.

The very next year when the Bucks of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson set a new record with 20 consecutive wins, their streak ended with a double-overtime loss at Chicago and they lost three straight and five of the last six games to close out the regular season.

Mar. 9 at Chicago, lost 110-103 (2 OT).

Mar. 13 at New York, lost 108-103.

Mar. 14 vs. Suns, lost 125-113.

Mar. 16 at Phoenix, won 119-111.

Mar. 18 at Seattle, lost 122-121.

Mar.19 at San Diego, lost 111-99.

The legendary 1971-72 Lakers of Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich came along the very next season to hang the record so far out there at 33 in a row that it still eluded the Heat 41 years later. But even that Hall of Fame trio couldn’t avoid a letdown. After the streak was ended by Kareem and the Bucks, the Lakers lost three of their next five.

Jan. 9 at Milwaukee, lost 120-104.

Jan. 11 at Detroit, won 123-103.

Jan. 12 at Cincinnati, lost 108-107.

Jan. 14 at Philadelphia, won 135-121.

Jan. 21 vs. Knicks, lost 104-101.

Jan. 22 at Phoenix, lost 116-102.

It took another 36 years until the 2007-08 Rockets tried to make a run at the record. But their fate was no different. After their 22-game win streak was smashed by Boston, Tracy McGrady and the Rockets were hammered the next night by the Hornets as they went on to lose four of their next seven.

Mar. 18 vs. Celtics, lost 94-74.

Mar. 19 at New Orleans, lost 90-69.

Mar. 21 at Golden State, won 109-106.

Mar. 22 at Phoenix, lost 122-113.

Mar. 24 vs. Kings, won 108-100.

Mar. 26 vs. Timberwolves, won 97-86.

Mar. 30 at San Antonio, lost 109-88.

Apr. 1 at Sacramento, lost 99-98.

Of course, the good news for LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the gang is that all of those teams except the Rockets gathered themselves in time for the playoffs and went on to win the NBA championship and the Heat will still be the heavy favorites to do that in June.

But for now, history says it’s time to watch for a case of the Post-Streak Blues.

January 1, 2013 · 9:51 AM ET

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HANG TIME, Texas — It might be time to change the name of Lob City to Titletown or Bannerburgh.

Either way the streaking Clippers are on the verge of moving into a rather exclusive neighborhood that merits quite serious attention. It’s a ritzy place that comes with lots of shiny gold hardware.

When Chris Paul and his pals won back-to-back games over the Jazz to run it up to 17 consecutive wins, they squeezed into a tie for the ninth-longest single-season streak in NBA history.

With one more win tonight at Denver — No. 18 — the Clippers would take another step toward forcing themselves into the conversation as honest-to-goodness contenders.

Of course, the 1971-72 Lakers top the list with their all-time record 33-game win streak that many consider to be unbreakable. But of the eight teams currently ahead of the Clippers, five of them went on that same season to win the NBA championship and two others advanced to the conference finals. Only the 2007-08 Rockets failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs.

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — From Bill Bradley a generation ago to Kevin Johnson and Dave Bing, the list of NBA stars who have gone on to distinguished careers in politics is as impressive as it is brief.

A 10-year NBA veteran, Thomas is an accomplished poet, author, activist, public speaker and all around renaissance man in the mold of conscious professional athletes from a bygone era — when you grow up with an understanding of the legacy of living legends like Bill Russell, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Muhammad Ali there is only one way to go.

Born in Harlem, raised in Tulsa and now a resident of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, the former Syracuse and Washington Wizards (he also played with Oklahoma City Thunder and Atlanta Hawks) star is in a prime position to follow in some pretty famous footsteps … whenever he’s ready.

But before he moves on to a life in politics beyond the work he did in helping President Barack Obama get a second term, we enlisted the services of the author Fatherhood: Rising To The Ultimate Challenge, to assist our very own Lang Whitaker with some of the nuances of the job just five days into his journey as a new dad. We also debate about the Wizards and how many games they’ll win this season, discuss the impact Robert Griffin III is having on the entire region and the link Thomas has to Tulsa’s famed Booker T. Washington high school and one of its most famous alums, the late former NBA and jazz great Wayman Tisdale.

You get all of that and a complete examination of the news and headlines in the NBA on Episode 95 of the Hang Time Podcast featuring Etan Thomas, with your hosts Sekou Smith, Whitaker and Rick Fox.

With a margin of error in the poll of 4.4 percentage points, Dudley might want to hold off on any premature celebrating. But he won’t have to go far in search of advice if he does convince enough people to “Join Oregon’s Comeback.”

We usually try to steer clear of anything other than hideout politics around here, but we’re officially on the bandwagon with any former NBA players rocking the vote on Election Day across the country — that would be Tuesday folks, so get out and vote! Dudley is fighting long odds.

A win would be historic for a couple of reasons, as he’d also be the first former NBA player elected governor. No Republican has been elected Oregon’s governor since 1982. A Yale graduate, Dudley’s long been a champion for diabetes research and now he’d be a political pioneer, of sorts (the trail was first blazed by former Knicks great Bill Bradley, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, served three terms as a Democratic senator from New Jersey).

Among the contributors to Dudley’s campaign are N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern; the founder of Nike, Phil Knight; the coaches P. J. Carlesimo and Rick Carlisle; and his former Blazers teammates Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter.

“The voters of this state don’t get too excited about Republican governors, I can tell you that right now,” said Porter, who is a member of the campaign’s finance committee. “But he’s going to put in the tireless effort that he’s always been known for on the basketball court.”

We haven’t forgotten that TNT’s very own Charles Barkley has talked for years about running for governor of his home state of Alabama. Sounds good to us. Too bad he won’t be the first.